


Second Star to the Right

by I_am_Best



Series: Wander's Campfire Stories [3]
Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 11:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10216976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_am_Best/pseuds/I_am_Best
Summary: Quantum entanglement: a state where particles cannot be described independently of each other, where one affects the other, regardless of time, regardless of distance.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of a headcanon yugimew over on Tumblr mentioned, which I am using for my second prompt, An event from Sylvia’s childhood from [Wander's Campfire Stories](http://storiesbybest.tumblr.com/post/151853708328/wanders-campfire-stories), and a very loose interpretation of quantum mechanics. also lol, changed the title to the actual quote this time

Wander always told her stories about the stars, stories that sat somewhere between truth and fantasy, or maybe they were all truth, given who was telling them. When he finally fell silent one night, eyes still turned to a sparkling spacescape, body warm and soft in the curl of Sylvia's own, she decided to return the favor. Though she had only one story of her own to share, it was a special one that she'd kept close to her heart for years. She'd never had the sort of friend she thought she could tell it to without being laughed at until Wander.

Sylvia scanned the sky for a particular star that could be seen throughout the galaxy. She wasn't sure if it was a star, exactly, or some far distant nebula or galaxy, but it was always there, twinkling like it was sending a message in a code she didn't understand.

"Hey, Wander. See that star there?" she asked, pointing at it once she'd spotted its familiar orange tint.

It took a moment for him to find, but Wander wasn't one to just say 'sure' until he was sure, at least when it came to things like stars and stories. He checked his line of sight with hers, then was silent for longer than it should have taken him to find it.

Finally, he said, "Yeah, I do."

"Well, I've got a story about it."

Wander's gaze immediately snapped to her own. "You do?"

"Yeah, I got stories too," Sylvia said, ruffling the fur on his head to show she was just joking. "They might not be so epic as yours, but I got 'em."

"I bet they're great!"

"We'll find out, won't we?"

Sylvia got comfortable and Wander immediately found his spot again in the curve of her body, eyes bright like he was about to be given a gift. She supposed, to him, he was.

She hoped he liked it.

"When I was little, before my dad died, we used to go out to the quarry to look at the stars. He was like you, sort of. But a lot more, y'know, punchy. Friends were really important to him, too. Friends kept you alive, watched your back, shared your life. He'd fought in the Criton Wars, had a whole squad of friends from then who were basically my aunts and uncles. His blood brothers were just as much family as mom, gran, and us kids -- " A small hand touched lightly at the corner of Sylvia's eye, fur wicking away the tear hanging on the edge there. Sylvia grabbed Wander's hand in her larger one. "Sorry, pal. Just thinking of Dad... I wish you could have met him. He was a great guy."

"I'm sure he was, since he's got such a great daughter," Wander assured her.

"Anyway," Syvlia said gruffly, a blush on her cheeks. "When I was little I didn't really get along with the other kids. I was a loner. Dad knew that and accepted that, but he didn't want me to think I had to be lonely to be alone.

"He'd tell me stories, like you do, about the stars. I think because we all knew I was leaving home some way, some how, some day. How constellations came to be and battles and blood brothers gained and lost--"

"What's a blood brother?" Wander asked as she said the term again, before realizing he'd just cut her off. "Oops, sorry go on."

"No, that's fine. I kind of forget, we've been together so long, you don't actually know much about us Zbornaks. A blood brother's like..." She trailed off, trying to put into words such a specific idea. A Zbornak knew what a blood brother was without being told. It was woven in their lives from the time they could understand language, in storybooks and television shows and history. "It's like best best friends. It's kind of like romance? But not exactly. It's a... it's a feeling, you know? When you meet a person and you just _know_." she said, fumbling for words.

"You just know," Wander echoed. Sylvia had to assume he understood, at least on some level. He was all about love, right? However misguided, sometimes.

"Yeah. So my dad would tell me these stories, some were from his war days with his own blood brothers and best friends. Those were the ones I loved the most, hearing the trouble they got into and (sometimes) got out of. The fun they had. And all that happened out there." Sylvia gestured at the entirety of the night sky. "There's no bond like one forged in a star, he'd say. And I figured he'd know, having traveled across the whole galaxy. I really took that to heart.

"One night, when we were in the quarry, when everyone had gone home and everything was pitch black except the stars in the sky, and it was just me and Dad, he helped me pick the best star we could find. It wasn't big, but it shone so brightly that night, like it wanted to be seen. And I decided, 'that star right there. That's my friend, my blood brother.' So I wouldn't be lonely, even if I was alone."

"You fell in blood brother with a star," Wander sighed dreamily.

Sylvia laughed. "That is exactly not at all how that word works. But I guess I did. And you know what? It's never left."

Wander giggled like he'd just heard the punchline of some cosmic joke. "No, I s'pose not."

"I'd talk to it, like it was a person. A star's the best listener you could ask for, and Dad never discouraged it. I think he liked that I had someone, even if that someone was a star. And it helped. When Dad died. Seeing it twinkling just like it always did, when everything else was falling apart." She stopped talking abruptly, unable to put into words how it had felt.

At Sylvia's silence, Wander wrapped his arms around her neck and said nothing.

"It was there when I left home and first got arrested, too. When I broke it off with Ryder and when I met you, though I couldn't see it in the daylight, I know it was there. We've been through it all together." Sylvia trailed off before finishing a little lamely, "I guess that really wasn't a _story_ , was it?"

"It was perfect," Wander whispered, hugging her tightly. He then climbed to his feet so he and Sylvia were at eye-level, and took her face in his hands.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry if I'm not doin' this proper," he apologized immediately, "But Sylvia the Zbornak, I'd be downright _honored_ if you'd let me be your blood brother."

"Aw, buddy, you know you already are."

Wander bumped his head gently against Sylvia's, eyes closed, and they stayed like that for a moment, sharing breath. "I know now," he said quietly. "But just t' make it all official."

"I couldn't ask for a better blood brother than you, Wander."

With that reassurance, Wander nuzzled her nose -- what her dad must think, having such a softie for a blood brother, though she imagined he would have been proud -- and sank back into her arms so they could return to stargazing.

It wasn't until later, when Wander was settled in his hat on her saddle, that he spoke again. "I'm glad ya picked me," he told Sylvia sleepily.

She raised her head to look at him. "What?"

Wander didn't respond, except to murmur in his sleep about starlight and little Zbornaks.

No. _No_. That wasn't possible.

Was it?

Sylvia looked up at the sky, at one small, bright orange star that twinkled like it was speaking to her. Then she examined Wander, an orange fuzzball small enough to fit into his own hat, who smiled in his sleep and liked playing the banjo, hugging, and eating triple pickle pie. He was the farthest thing from a star, but at the same time...

She pressed her snout against Wander's cheek, earning a squeaky, happy noise, then laid down herself and closed her eyes.

Whatever Wander was, he was hers, and that was all that mattered.

But at the same time, it was nice to think he was her star.


End file.
